What makes LSU Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?

People see it on TV and travel from all over the world to visit. It's ranked in the top 10 of greatest sports stadiums on earth. I have to think it's the bowl design of the stadium combined with 90,000 plus crazy cajuns juiced up to watch their Tigers play on a Saturday night. I'm old enough to have experienced TS before the upper decks were added. It was so loud and rocked back in the 1970's. We won a last second game against Ole Miss with a Bert Jones TD as time expired. I remember that night as the loudest football game I had ever witnessed up until that point. And Mike the Tiger is one of the best mascots a school can have with all the past stories of how Mike 1 came to us.

re: What makes LSU Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?(Posted by Iam4LSUnTN on 11/9/12 at 11:21 am to TenTex)

The mystique of playing after the son goes down...you take a deep breath and smell the amora of Bourbon in the air...look around at 90k all lathered up from a day of tailgating...and it makes you stand right up and roar.

We were one of the first to play at night and still today set the benchmark for night game intensity.

The312Northwestern FanI Live in The Three One TwoMember since Aug 20086967 posts

re: What makes LSU Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?(Posted by The312 on 11/9/12 at 11:24 am to TenTex)

quote:What makes Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?

The only true answer: the unique passion of the Louisiana populace. LSU fans possess an inherent abandon, a wildness, a fierceness of spirit that simply isn't encountered anywhere else in the nation. I know, I've spent my life looking for it. Occassionally, I'll stumble upon it on a dance floor at 2 AM: that pure buzz, that unfettered joie de vive, total unaccountable energy. But it's fleeting and artificial there. By contrast, an ungodly number of people in Louisiana naturally possess that energy all day, every day. Every instant is a celebration of life. Every occassion is an excuse for a party. Every day joys.

It's beautiful. And rare. It's unlike the ethos you'll find anywhere else in the United States. And that's why I'll go to such lengths to protect it against usurpers like corporate season ticket holders and teetotallers and grumpy old blue-hairs who want the entire stadium to sit and golf clap.

If you've spent your life in common society, bound by common convention, oppressed by somber expectations and lifeless conversation, passing boring pleasantries, half awake, your first Tiger Stadium experience is akin to sudden liberation, a mainline of life's best drug. That's why visitors rave.

re: What makes LSU Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?(Posted by lsuexpert57 on 11/9/12 at 11:33 am to TenTex)

I think it is mainly that we play mostly at night. Tiger Stadium really got its reputation back in the late 60's and early 70's. The one biggest defining factor is that we were one of the very few teams that played all its home games at night. These were the days when few games were televised so few of our home games saw daylight. Combining the factors of the fans being able to tailgate all day, getting drunker as they go, and nighttime making everything seem more intense and special, thats what makes our fans lose their inhibitions more than typical "daylight" fans. That and the fact that we are mostly cajuns and have genetically lower inhibition levels to start with!

So we scream louder, love harder and sing better than everyone else's fans!!

re: What makes LSU Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?(Posted by klrstix on 11/9/12 at 11:39 am to The312)

quote:The only true answer: the unique passion of the Louisiana populace. LSU fans possess an inherent abandon, a wildness, a fierceness of spirit that simply isn't encountered anywhere else in the nation. I know, I've spent my life looking for it. Occassionally, I'll stumble upon it on a dance floor at 2 AM: that pure buzz, that unfettered joie de vive, total unaccountable energy. But it's fleeting and artificial there. By contrast, an ungodly number of people in Louisiana naturally possess that energy all day, every day. Every instant is a celebration of life. Every occassion is an excuse for a party. Every day joys.

It's beautiful. And rare. It's unlike the ethos you'll find anywhere else in the United States. And that's why I'll go to such lengths to protect it against usurpers like corporate season ticket holders and teetotallers and grumpy old blue-hairs who want the entire stadium to sit and golf clap.

If you've spent your life in common society, bound by common convention, oppressed by somber expectations and lifeless conversation, passing boring pleasantries, half awake, your first Tiger Stadium experience is akin to sudden liberation, a mainline of life's best drug. That's why visitors rave.

To say what you just said another way...

LSU fans are by and large unencumbered by most social norms and conventions in our support for our TEAM! And the experience for most people is both refreshing and liberating.

re: What makes LSU Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?(Posted by MC123 on 11/9/12 at 11:54 am to TenTex)

The difference is the fans and how they are a part of the game. Other fanbases do not participate like we do. I can tell you that when the saints played in TS it was just a stadium. Also, at the championship game in the dome we sat in a sea of Bama fans and they looked at us like we were freaking lunatics for screaming our heads off on every defensive play. Tiger fans make the Tiger Stadium mystique.

re: What makes LSU Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?(Posted by LSUPHILLY72 on 11/9/12 at 12:08 pm to MC123)

The old 8PM kickoffs combined with Mardi Gras atmosphere from day long tailgating, the food, the people (drunkards), the noise level, the band, student section, and a live Tiger outside of the opposing teams locker room.

re: What makes LSU Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?(Posted by Tigahs24Seven on 11/9/12 at 12:34 pm to TenTex)

You need to travel alot outside of Lousiana to see it, and maybe you do, but our culture is extremely unique and fun. Also, alcohol consumption outside of here is not a really important part of the equation. Our culture is not replicated anywhere in the US outside of South Lousiana. You combine that with the fact that most folks who live here are from here,which is not true in many other places. That brings with it great pride and a real sense of community. You put all that in a great bowl stadium and stir it up and you get an atmosphere that blows the minds of those who witness it. I work for a company based out of Michigan and what they call a football Saturday up there would put most of you to sleep. Hell, at Michigan State they have to get absolution from the University to tailgate on campus more than 4 hours before game start time. I am not making that up!

re: What makes LSU Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?(Posted by Tomball Tiger on 11/9/12 at 1:39 pm to TenTex)

It's the fans who have that love of life and love of LSU football. Food and drink is what we live for, then top that off with a love for football in the best stadium on earth under the lights and it's the best party anywhere. My first game as an LSU student brought tears to my eyes, as if I had found the perfect place on earth! I'll be in that stadium tomorrow with my son who'll be at his last home game as a student. We will pass that love for TS and LSU football to the next generation, I guarantee dat!

when Louisianians have something they can be proud of, we take it to levels the rest of he country cannot do or won't do.

we are different here. I've lived in over 10 different states in my adult life. NOT ONE STATE has the passion for living that Louisiana does. Sure you'll find pockets of that in other areas but not the sheer numbers here.

We are different than the rest of the country and I love that about us!!!

re: What makes LSU Tiger Stadium Special and the Icon it is?(Posted by cajunintn on 11/9/12 at 1:52 pm to stapuffmarshy)

The people...definitely, and the chants. It keeps up the energy, the noise, the show. No other school keeps the energy up for so long, or can. I go to UT games here in Knoxville...it is like a pro game. Boring